Patricia Claxton (born 1929) is a Canadian

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

, primarily of

Quebec literature This is an article about literature in Quebec. 16th and 17th centuries During this period, the society of New France was being built with great difficulty. The French merchants contracted to transport colonists did not respect their end of t ...

. A native of Kingston,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Patricia Claxton spent most of her childhood in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Upon returning to Canada, she has made

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

's largest city, and Canada's second-largest, her permanent residence. She attended the city's

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

, where she received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree, and the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte- ...

, where she earned a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in translation. She later taught translation at the Université de Montréal for eight years. She was also founding President of the

Literary Translators' Association of Canada The Literary Translators' Association of Canada (LTAC) (or, in French, ''Association des traducteurs et traductrices littéraires du Canada'' (ATTLC)) is an association of literary translators from across Canada. The Literary Translators' Associat ...

and served on the board of the Ordre des traducteurs et interprètes agréés du Québec. The literature of

Gabrielle Roy Gabrielle Roy (March 22, 1909July 13, 1983) was a Canadian author from St. Boniface, Manitoba and one of the major figures in French Canadian literature. Early life Roy was born in 1909 in Saint-Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba, and ...

has played a major role in Patricia Claxton's prominence in the field of translation. In 1987, she won her first

Governor General's Award for French to English translation This is a list of recipients of the Governor General's Award for French-to-English translation. Winners and nominees 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s References {{Governor General's Literary Awards * Translation awar ...

for her work on Roy's '' La Detresse et l'Enchantment'', which she translated as ''Enchantment and Sorrow'', and her second award, in 1999, was for translating François Ricard's biography of Roy. Her other notable translations include '' Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali'' ('' A Sunday at the pool in Kigali''), for which she was a finalist in the 2003 Governor General's Awards and shortlisted for the

Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize The Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, formerly known as the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers. A ...

in 2004. Authors she has translated include

Nicole Brossard Nicole Brossard (born November 27, 1943) is a leading French-Canadian formalist poet and novelist. Her work is known for exploration of feminist themes and for challenging masculine-oriented language and points of view in French literature. Sh ...

Jacques Godbout Jacques Godbout, OC, CQ (born November 27, 1933) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, children's writer, journalist, filmmaker and poet. By his own admission a bit of a dabbler (''touche-à-tout''), Godbout has become one of the most important wri ...

, Jacques Hébert,

Naïm Kattan Naïm Kattan, (, ; August 26, 1928 – July 2, 2021) was a Canadian novelist, essayist and critic of Iraqi Jewish origin. He is the author of more than 30 books, translated into several languages. Biography Kattan spent the first years of his li ...

, André Major, Fernand Ouellet,

Gérard Pelletier Gérard Pelletier, (June 21, 1919 – June 22, 1997) was a Canadian journalist and politician. Career Pelletier initially worked as a journalist for ''Le Devoir'', a French-language newspaper in Montreal, Quebec. In 1961 he became editor-i ...

, François Ricard, André Roy,

, France Théoret, Pierre-Elliott Trudeau and

Marcel Trudel Marcel Trudel (May 29, 1917 – January 11, 2011) was a Canadian historian, university professor (1947–1982) and author who published more than 40 books on the history of New France. He brought academic rigour to an area that had been ma ...

External links

Biography of Patricia Claxton at the Literary Translators' Association of Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claxton, Patricia 1929 births Living people Canadian translators French–English translators Writers from Kingston, Ontario Writers from Montreal Canadian people of English descent Université de Montréal alumni McGill University alumni Anglophone Quebec people Governor General's Award-winning translators Canadian women non-fiction writers